June 17, 2024, 3:30pm - T-Party in the Strait, as well as two groups of Humpbacks

It was another great trip spent exploring the Salish Sea. We knew that there was a t-party in the Strait of Georgia, thanks to the morning boat seeing them, so the goal was for us to head out again and find these whales. Thankfully, another boat beat us to it! All of the whale watching companies in the area share sightings with one another, contributing to the high success rate of finding whales that we have here in the Salish Sea. As we got into position with the whales, we were able to confirm that these were the same whales that we saw earlier in the day, the T034s, T036s, T037s, and T087 travelling together.

T034 Grace ♀ (≤ 1969)
T034A Pachamama ♀ (2007)
T034B Sonder ♀ (2017)

T036 Flapjack ♀ (≤1970)
T036B Tattertip ♀ (1998)
T036B1 Bhotia ♀ (2009)
T036B2 Greenfelder ♀ (2013)
T036B4 (2024)

T037 Rocky III / Pizza Fin ♀ (1979)
T037B Harald ♀ (1998)
T037B1 Lance ♂ (2012)
T037B3 ♀ (2022)

T087 Harbeson ♂ (~1962)

Although it might not seem like it from the numbers that are listed here, there is a small family reunion going on within the group! Most of the time the numbers and letters of the whales indicate their lineage, unless they’re older. When research first started to get more focused on the Biggs orca, they assigned a number to each whale that they saw with the prefix “T” for Transient to distinguish them from the resident pods. From there when they started reproducing the calf would get a letter depending on the order of their birth, and then when those whales were old enough to be having their own calf it goes back to a number, and so on and so forth forever. But like I mentioned, that didn’t happen at first so there are some confusing relationships. T034 Grace is actually the mother of T037 Pizza Fin although they have different number designations!

This also happened with Harbeson, T087, as his mother is actually T088 and his sister is T090.

Some of our naturalists also have a theory about childhood friendships forming with orca, as we often see females around the same age spending more time together than we see with others. We know orca are very social creatures, so they might form long term friendships like this! But that theory would be very hard to prove.

Watching these orca as they travelled though the Strait was very fun, especially with all the speculation of relationships passing through our minds. But it was time to leave these whales to their socializing, and time for us to start the journey back across the Strait of Georgia, but not before a quick stop at the White Islets to see some sea lions! It was Steller Sea Lions that we found here, with some very large males in the mix! They were up to their usual shenanigans, fighting amongst each other or resting lazily on the rocks, or sometimes smoothly transitioning between the two!

Continuing on our travels, we were about halfway though the crossing back when we spotted some humpbacks in the distance! We decided we had a little bit of time, so we could try and get some ID shots with these whales. It seemed there was two groups here. The first group, was Pingu (BCY1110) travelling with an unknown humpback who we didn’t get a tail for. With their very scarred up appearance and distinct dorsal fin, we hope that we will be able to provide you with an update here about the ID soon!

The next group was a bit more cooperative, with tails from two of the three, and a dorsal fin to confirm the other. It was Arial (BCY0767), Slits (BCY0946) and Slit’s 2024 calf! Thanks to the quick camera work of the naturalist we got Arial’s tail, as well as the calf! Capturing a calf’s tail fluke can be difficult since they don’t usually lift them up when they dive, so its usually captured during surface activity like tail slapping or cartwheeling, which are usually fast and difficult to capture. This calf has a beautiful fluke, and we can’t wait to see how the pigments develop on it over the years!

Finally, it was time for the tour to come to an end, and we found ourselves back in the Nanaimo harbour. You can’t ask for much of a better day than this! All of the photos from the tour taken by Marine Naturalist Aly Kohlman and Crew Ride-a-long Lucy Willis can be viewed below!

T037 Rocky III/Pizzafin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T034 Grace and her daughter T034B Pachamama. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T036B Sonder, T037B Harald, and T037B3. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T036B Tattertip with her newest calf T036B4 in front of her. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T036B4 and T036B Tattertip. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T036B2 Greenfelder, T036B4, and T036B Tattertip. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T036B1 Bhotia and T036B2 Greenfelder. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T037B3 and her mother T037B Harald. Photo by Lucy Willis.

Left to right: T036 Flapjack, T036B4, T037 Rocky III/Pizzafin, T036B1 Bhotia, T034A Pachamama, and T034 Grace. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T036 Flapjack, T036B Sonder, and T037B Harald. Photo by Lucy Willis.

Look at those massive barnacles on this humpback whale! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Our scarred up Unknown humpback. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Slits with her 2024 in front of her. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Slits’ 2024 calf’s fluke! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A sleepy Harbour seal precariously balanced on a rock. Photo by Lucy Willis.

The same seal doing the Banana pose. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

They all look so sleepy today! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A large Steller sea lion with his tongue out! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Jilann LechnerJune 17, 2024WhalesComment